Fire in Portales

May 19, 2009

By Argen Duncan: Freedom New Mexico

A fire of unknown cause destroyed an abandoned house on Roosevelt Road 6 on Tuesday evening, but no one was injured.

Portales Fire Department Battalion Chief Gary Nuckols said there is nothing to suggest the fire was tied to previous fires. This is the second abandoned house to burn down in a week, and the sixth fire in less than two months.

Firefighters were called to the scene southeast of town just before 5 p.m. The house was already engulfed.

Although firefighers contained the blaze within 30 minutes, Nuckols said, it took about three hours to extinguish the flames.

“There’s not an ongoing investigation at this time,” he said.

Nuckols said this is the case because the cause is unknown and the owners, Kenneth and Raenell Walker, didn’t ask for further investigation.

Raenell Walker said they heard the building burned and went to the scene.

“We just don’t know what happened,” she said.

The couple hasn’t had a chance to look at the situation and make plans to deal with it, Raenell Walker said.

The house and a small outhouse were the only property damaged, and nothing of value was inside either of them, Nuckols said.

“It’s been abandoned for many, many years,” he said of the house.

Dora and Arch fire departments worked with Portales firefighers. The Roosevelt County Road Department provided equipment to clear the road, and helped control traffic with the Sheriff’s Office.